Water of infertility: Polluted Noyyal river in Tamil Nadu is turning land and people barren

Land has turned barren though there's water aplenty. And it can't even quench their thirst. If this was the pathetic story so far of the villages along the Noyyal river, the worst has befallen downstream in the boomtown of Tirupur - infertility is staring the villagers in the face.

Fishes floating along the river because of discharge of toxic industrial waste and attendant loss of agriculture is now passé. What rattles the villagers more is the increasing rate of infertility among men and women and its social consequences.

Not surprisingly, there is a surge in the rural populace approaching fertility clinics which have mushroomed in Erode, Tirupur, Karur and Coimbatore districts.

Farmer Nachimuthu Gounder is now a
shepherd because his land has turned
barren

There are about 30 hospitals in Erode and Tirupur - the worst affected by water pollution because of effluent discharge from dyeing and bleaching units.

'We are witnessing a significant rise in the number of men and women coming for infertility treatment from the areas next to the Noyyal. Environmental degradation is a major cause of this,' Dr Nirmala Sadasivam, a specialist in IVF treatment, said.

'We were taken aback when 210 couples were found with fertility disorder at a medical camp as late as 2009 in Karur.

All of them were from the villages downstream,' the doctor added, claiming that the sperm count in the region had come down to 40 million from the earlier 120 million.

Urging the government to make efforts to reclaim the land and the river, she disclosed '30 to 40 couples visit our hospital daily'. Dr S. Dhanabagiyam, another popular IVF specialist in Tirupur, carried out a study of the region.

Her research revealed that an alarming 80 per cent of impotence cases were a result of water pollution. 'High water contamination,' she said, 'reduces sperm count, while in women it creates ovarian complications and hormonal changes, leading to loss of oestrogen as well as abortions.'

Her hospital was recently in the news for the birth of 26 babies on a single day to couples treated for infertility from all over India. A visit to these villages downstream Noyyal found many elders lamenting about the growing incidence of impotence.

'Our youth are shunned in the marriage market. Word about impotence in these areas has spread.

Villages downstream the
Noyyal are the worst affected

There is growing apprehension about sterility coupled with worry over the loss of livelihood. Our women too face this problem as the frequency of conception has come down drastically,' T. C. Duraisamy, 56, former panchayat president of Thammareddypalayam, a fertile village now desertified, bemoaned.

The villagers initially believed the problem was confined to cattle.

'As a boy, I saw our milch animals, especially cows, yielding a minimum of 10 calves. It is not the case nowadays and has had a cascading effect on the local economy. Most farmers have taken to making charcoal,' he said.

Farmer-turned-shepherd Nachimuthu Gounder, 52, also complained: 'First the land turned barren and then it (water pollution) caught up with the cattle. Now, we've become the victims.'

The malaise is not confined to a few areas but is prevalent in over 71 revenue villages with a population of nearly 2 lakh spread across the three districts of Tirupur, Karur and Erode, through which the Noyyal river passes.

A detailed study by an academic had revealed in 2003 that water pollution had given rise to over 60 per cent of ailments such as skin diseases, respiratory problems and gastritis.

'Infertility accounts for 40 per cent of health disorders in the pollution- hit villages. We have been pressing the government to carry out a scientific study. We are tired of submitting petitions from the district collector to the CM. But nothing has happened,' said V. Ramasamy, adviser to the Noyyal farmers' forum which took up the over-a-decade-long legal battle against the polluting industries.

The irony, however, is that the residents of most villages are turning to Tirupur for employment. 'It is a classic case of the victim turning to the perpetrator for succour,' Ramasamy added. Farming and allied activities were thriving in these villages, surrounded by coconut and mango groves, barely two decades ago.

Even now they have electric pump-sets for their wells but nothing grows with the water. If at all anything is grown, it is maize and that too when the rain comes.

After the Madras High Court directive in November 2010, effluent discharge from the dyeing and bleaching units, numbering over 700 in Tirupur, had almost come to an end.

'But the level of water pollution has not come down and there is no effort to resolve the problem,' Ramasamy said. According to a recent study, 2,300-2,500 total dissoluble solids (TDS) still make up the water. If the number crosses 500, the water becomes unfit for drinking and above 1,500 TDS, it can't be used for farming, he pointed out. Despite pollution plaguing the region for over a decade, the government has not conducted any study on health disorders.

The affected districts have no data on the spurt in certain diseases.

'We will certainly look into the demand for a health survey. Proactive steps would be initiated and if any work has been carried out earlier, it will be given thrust,' was all that Erode collector V.K. Shanmugham said.